Financial Markets and Economy
Big Central Bank Assets Jump Fastest in 5 Years to $21 Trillion (Bloomberg)
The world’s biggest central banks are bulking up their balance sheets this year at the fastest pace since 2011’s European debt crisis to boost lackluster economic recoveries with asset purchases that are supporting stock and bond prices.
Oil Speculators Most Bullish Since ’14 After Wild Two Months (Bloomberg)
Oil investors must be getting dizzy.
In the two months since OPEC began talking about capping production, speculators’ sentiment has swung wildly, with government and exchange data showing the four biggest weekly position changes ever for the two global benchmark crudes.
Hedge Funds Trim Record Bearish Wheat Wager as Demand Climbs (Bloomberg)
There are finally some signs of life in the wheat market.
Prices surged last week by the most in 15 months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture unexpectedly cut its forecast of global inventories. That was fortuitous for some speculators. A day before the Oct. 12 USDA report, funds cut their record bets that prices would drop.
A tectonic shift just occurred in a $2.65 trillion investment industry (Business Insider)
On Friday, money market funds underwent a huge shift in how they will be regulated, resulting in a sea change for the $2.65 trillion money market fund industry.
The Oil Market is Bigger Than All Metal Markets Combined (Visual Capitalist)
Ever since the invention of the internal combustion engine, oil has been one of the most crucial commodities on Earth. Without it, modern transportation as we know it would not be possible. Industries such as aviation, aerospace, automobiles, shipping, and the military would look nothing like they do today.
Russian Mega India Deal Takes Oil Battle to Mideast Backyard (Bloomberg)
A $13 billion deal involving Russia in India threatens to weaken the grip of Middle East crude suppliers in the world’s fastest growing oil market.
What OPEC’s Oil U-Turn Missed: Peak Demand Keeps Getting Closer (Bloomberg)
OPEC’s decision last month to reverse its policy of unfettered production and cut oil output to boost prices may be at odds with the industry’s most important long-term trend: demand for what they produce could start falling within 15 years.
Will Italy Leave the EU? Follow the Money (Bloomberg)
Will Italy follow the U.K.'s example and leave the European Union? Far-fetched as it may seem, capital flows suggest that some people aren’t waiting to find out.
IRAN: OPEC's decision to limit oil output is a 'baby step in right direction' (Reuters)
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran's deputy oil minister said on Monday that the OPEC's primary agreement in Algeria to limit oil output at 32.5 million barrels per day was a small step but in right direction.
Helicopter Money Would Boost Savings, Not Consumer Spending (Benchmark, Bloomberg)
Helicopter money — the direct transfer of cash from central banks to consumers — has been touted as a radical form of stimulus to boost moribund inflation. A study by ING suggests it may not have much of an impact.
The yuan is at a 6-year low against the US dollar (Business Insider Australia)
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has just set its USD/CNY fixing rate at a 6-year low. Again.
The PBOC set the yuan’s mid-point at 6.7379, weaker than previous fix of 6.7157 and the last traded price of 6.7271 on Friday.
Boston Fed's Rosengren maps case for a dove's rate hike (Reuters)
By the middle of next year, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren says he expects unemployment to fall to 4.7 percent and inflation to beat the Fed's 2 percent target, leaving policymakers at risk of having to squelch the recovery with faster-than-expected rate increases.
Oil Trades Near $50 Amid Gains in OPEC Supply, U.S. Drilling (Bloomberg)
Oil fell as OPEC members added supply and U.S. producers increased drilling, threatening to compound a global surplus.
utures fell by as much as 1.5 percent. Output from OPEC member Libya expanded to 560,000 barrels a day, according to the National Oil Corp., up from 540,000 last week.
Saudi Bank Stress Builds as Kingdom’s Cash Injection Falls Short (Bloomberg)
Saudi Arabia has work to do to ease pressure in the kingdom’s banking system.
The interest rate banks charge one another for loans rose by the most since August on Sunday, extending a trend that’s slowing earnings and corporate borrowing in the world’s biggest oil exporter.
Why Italy’s Banking Crisis is Spiraling Out of Control (Wolf Street, Naked Capitalism)
Things have got so serious in Italy that the only two things propping up the country’s crumbling banking sector — apart from the last few remaining crumbs of public faith in the system — are two inadequately capitalized bad bank funds, Atlante I and the imaginatively named Atlante II.
Euro 'house of cards' to collapse, warns ECB prophet (The Telegraph)
The European Central Bank is becoming dangerously over-extended and the whole euro project is unworkable in its current form, the founding architect of the monetary union has warned.
China in Better Shape to Avoid Currency-Manipulator Designation by U.S. (The Wall Street Journal)
HONG KONG—China’s currency policy may be the subject of complaints on the U.S. presidential campaign trail. But the Asian country is arguably now further from being a currency manipulator than Germany, Japan and even Switzerland.
Draghi Seen Embracing More Before Less QE as Inflation Edges Up (Bloomberg)
Mario Draghi will have to go the extra mile on quantitative easing before he can think of slowing down, economists say.
Hong Kong Stocks Fall as Casinos Slump After Crown Detentions (Bloomberg)
Hong Kong stocks extended last week’s slump as casino operators declined after Chinese authorities detained employees from billionaire James Packer’s Crown Resorts Ltd., while property developers paced losses by financial shares.
New Orleans’s Premier Bank, First NBC, Runs Into Problems (The Wall Street Journal)
With much of New Orleans still devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2006, well-heeled local luminaries including football stars Peyton and Eli Manning invested in a new bank meant to help with the rebuilding.
Companies
IBM Is Counting on Its Bet on Watson, and Paying Big Money for It (NY Times)
Watson, can you grow into a multibillion-dollar business and become the engine of IBM’s resurgence?
IBM is betting its future that the answer is yes. Its campaign to commercialize Watson, the company’s version of artificial intelligence technology, stands out, even during the current A.I. frenzy in the tech industry.
Wanda Hires Former Disneyland Executive to Run Theme Parks (The Wall Street Journal)
HONG KONG—China’s richest man has fired another shot across Walt Disney Co.’s bow.
Dalian Wanda Group Co., controlled by billionaire Wang Jianlin, has hired the former head of Hong Kong Disneyland to run its amusement parks, according to a person familiar with the matter.
How Caterpillar’s Big Bet Backfired (The Wall Street Journal)
Doug Oberhelman spent his first years as Caterpillar Inc.’s chief executive plowing billions of dollars into factories to build more of its familiar yellow machines and move the company deeper into mining equipment.
Lack of new blood casts doubt over Wells Fargo's change plan (Reuters)
Wells Fargo & Co's decision not to introduce new names onto its board or into the ranks of its senior management in the wake of a sales scandal has raised questions about whether it can truly fix the culture which caused its problems.
Earnings Reports for Goldman Sachs and Yahoo (NY Times)
More big banks report their third-quarter earnings this week, starting on Monday with Bank of America. Goldman Sachs is expected to release results on Tuesday and Morgan Stanley on Wednesday. All three banks should be helped by stronger trading revenue in the quarter, thanks to market volatility generated by uncertainty about monetary policy and Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.
Netflix Isn’t Headed Toward a Happy Ending (The Wall Street Journal)
Corporate executives usually don’t utter those words. Yet that is how Netflix Inc. boss Reed Hastings closed his earnings call in July, a nod to the sharp moves that have buffeted the streaming service’s share price.
Politics
North Carolina G.O.P. Building Is Firebombed (NY Times)
A firebomb tore through the Republican Party headquarters in North Carolina’s Orange County on Saturday night, and graffiti warning its members to flee town was painted on the walls of a neighboring building, the party and police officials said on Sunday.
Capitalism Will Eat Democracy – Unless We Speak Up (TED)
Have you wondered why politicians aren't what they used to be, why governments seem unable to solve real problems? Economist Yanis Varoufakis, the former Minister of Finance for Greece, says that it's because you can be in politics today but not be in power — because real power now belongs to those who control the economy.
Without a Constitution, ‘Brexit’ Is Guided by a Prerogative. But Whose? (NY Times)
LONDON — For hundreds of years, the royal prerogative has allowed Britain’s leaders to mint coinage, requisition ships, send troops into battle or authorize the mining of precious metals.
Donald Trump and the G.O.P.: The Party of Lincoln, Reagan and, Perhaps, Extinction (NY Times)
Staunch in its opposition to the Democrats but rived by fierce internal schisms, the American political party stumbled toward defeat, its members cursing their fate. “We are slain,” cried Lewis D. Campbell, a representative from Ohio. “The party is dead, dead, dead!”
Inside Donald Trump’s echo chamber of conspiracies, grievances and vitriol (The Washington Post)
He is preaching to the converted. He is lashing out at anyone who is not completely loyal. He is detaching himself from and delegitimizing the institutions of American political life. And he is proclaiming conspiracies everywhere — in polls (rigged), in debate moderators (biased) and in the election itself (soon to be stolen).
Criticism of the News Media Takes On a More Sinister Tone (NY Times)
It sure does get exhausting working for the global corporate media conspiracy.
The hours are horrible (my kingdom for a weekend off). You never know what the puppet masters are going to order up next. (I wish that guy from Mexico, What’s-His-Face Slim, would get off my back.) And there’s no extra combat pay when, at this point, there clearly should be.
Huge press freedom rally in Budapest after top daily that criticised the government is closed (AFP)
Budapest (AFP) – Several thousand people marched in Budapest Sunday to demand press freedom and protest against the sudden closure of Hungary's top-selling political daily Nepszabadsag which had criticised the government.
Doug Casey on the Self-Identified Elite (International Man)
Mark Twain said, “If you don’t read the papers you’re uninformed. If you do read them, you’re misinformed.”
That’s why I want to draw your attention to a recent article called “The Isolationist Temptation,” in The Wall Street Journal, written by Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
If Hillary Clinton Groped Men (NY Times)
Is there a double standard for women in politics?
Imagine if it were Hillary Clinton who had had five children by three husbands, who had said it was fine to refer to her daughter as a “piece of ass,” who participated in a radio conversation about oral sex in a hot tub, who rated men based on their body parts, who showed up in Playboy soft porn videos.
Technology
VR helped me grasp the life of a transgender wheelchair user (Engadget)
Playing The Circle is quite literally a transformative experience. Designed by Manos Agianniotakis, a student at the National Film and Television School (NFTS) in Buckinghamshire, England, it's a game that uses the Oculus Rift and Touch controllers to put you in the body of a wheelchair user suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Using Your iPhone 7 in the Shower Is the Latest Status Symbol (Gizmodo)
In 250 BC, Greek mathematician Archimedes sat down in a public bath and realized that the volume of water displaced equaled the volume of his body. This was the birth of the “eureka!” moment, and the realization that I could use my iPhone 7 in the shower this weekend was exactly the same.
PBS debuts its own tablet for kids, the Playtime Pad (Tech Crunch)
The public broadcaster PBS today unveiled a new plan to bring its children’s television programming to its young audience, who spend more time behind tablets rather than sitting in front of TV sets.
Health and Biotech
Forget The EpiPen—It's Time For An Epi-Pill (Popular Science)
Last month a congressional committee tore into Mylan CEO Heather Bresch. The charge: jacking up the price of EpiPens, her company’s signature product. Those price hikes left some allergy sufferers without access to emergency epinephrine, the drug that saves people who go into anaphylactic shock.
W.H.O. Urges Tax on Sugary Drinks to Fight Obesity (NY Times)
The World Health Organization on Tuesday urged countries to impose a tax on sugary drinks to battle the growing obesity epidemic and presented new data on the beneficial health effects of such a tax.
Life on the Home Planet
Whether you believe in climate change, like the majority of scientists, or believe it’s a hoax created by the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive, like Donald Trump, the fact is that in most discussions of mankind’s environmental impact, food production is overlooked.
World Poverty (Our World In Data)
In the past only a small elite enjoyed living conditions that we would not describe as a life in extreme poverty today. With the onset of industrialization and rising productive the share of people living in poverty started to decrease and kept on falling ever since. As a consequence of falling poverty, the health of the population improved dramatically over the last two centuries, and the population started to grow.
5 Things to Know About HFCs (The Wall Street Journal)
On Saturday, nearly 200 countries signed a deal that would require them to phase out a specific class of greenhouse gases known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, starting in 2019. The goal is to reduce use of HFCs globally 80% by 2047. Although the chemicals account for only a small fraction of global greenhouse-gas emissions, they are one of the fastest growing greenhouse gases in the world.
Rise of Saudi Prince Shatters Decades of Royal Tradition (NY Times)
He has slashed the state budget, frozen government contracts and reduced the pay of civil employees, all part of drastic austerity measures as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is buffeted by low oil prices.
Six Incredible Places to Ski This Winter (Bloomberg)
This winter, resist the habit of skiing your local mountain for weekends on end. (Unless you live in Aspen or Zermatt.)
Instead, ski down fjords and glaciers. Aprés while watching the northern lights or at an Italian vineyard. Share the slopes with polar bears or the British royals.
India’s Modi Calls Pakistan Terror ‘Mothership’ at Brics Summit (The Wall Street Journal)
BENAULIM, India—Prime Minister Narendra Modi called India’s neighbor Pakistan the “mother ship of terrorism” at a Brics summit Sunday, underscoring New Delhi’s differences with Islamabad’s close ally China, which is a prominent member of the group.
'I hate to say it but our life was better under the previous regime': War-weary Libyans miss life under Gaddafi (AFP, Business Insider)
Tripoli (AFP) – Five years after an uprising killed Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, residents in the chaos-wracked country's capital joke they have grown to miss the longtime dictator as the frustrations of daily life mount.
Schools around the US are finally pushing back their start times — and it's working (Business Insider)
Dobbs Ferry Superintendent Dr. Lisa Brady tells Business Insider that prior to the 2015-2016 school year, middle schoolers started at 8:15 a.m. and high schoolers at 7:30 a.m. Under the new policy, each school now starts and ends 45 minutes later. Both schools have experienced tremendous benefits, Brady says.
China Launches 2 Astronauts on Its Longest Space Mission (NY Times)
BEIJING — In the latest move in its ambitious space program, China launched a manned spacecraft from the Gobi Desert on Monday morning.
Images broadcast on CCTV showed the astronauts giving a salute seconds before launch, and 15 minutes later they could be seen on the live feed clasping their gloved hands, apparently a sign of a successful launch.
Silkworms were fed graphene to produce 'super silk' and it could be the future of wearables (Wired)
Graphene just keeps getting better and better. The so-called super material – a one-atom-thick layer of carbon that has proven to be incredibly strong, flexible, light and conductive – has now been fed to larval silkworms which then created "mechanically enhanced silk".
Climate scientist James Hansen: We aren’t doing nearly enough to slow climate change (Think Progress)
James Hansen, former NASA director and well-known climate scientist, is out with another dire climate warning: The last time that the Earth was this hot, the oceans were about 20 feet higher than they are right now.
